The San Antonio Spurs were on the court when Houston's Tracy McGrady scored 13 points in 35 seconds in 2004.

So there were the Mavericks, ahead by nine points with 27 seconds left against Portland on Wednesday night. Who could blame coach Rick Carlisle for trying to squeeze an extra moment or two of rest for his heavy lifters? He took all of them out of the game to save at least a little energy for tonight's visit to Utah.

Less than 17 seconds later, it was a three-point game.

The Mavericks averted joining those other observers of history. They held on for a 104-99 victory, their fourth in a row, but it was a tough sell down the stretch.

Josh Howard, Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki all had to come back into the game. The Blazers scored eight points in the final 22.1 seconds and nearly stole what would have been a blooper-reel special for years had the Mavericks coughed it up.

"I subbed those three guys out to try to buy them an extra minute of rest because we're playing [tonight],'' Carlisle said. "They made two great plays, and we made two horrible plays. But the guys that came into the game have to shake it off. If we're in a situation where we're trying to get a little extra rest for our guys at the end, I have to trust that our guys can do the job.''

Most times, they will. Against the Blazers, they failed miserably. The Mavericks had fought off the Blazers twice in the fourth quarter. Then, Portland got two free throws from Rudy Fernandez with 55 seconds left to make it 100-91.

The Mavericks milked the clock, and Kidd missed a 3-pointer. Brandon Roy hit a 3-pointer with 22.1 left. James Singleton, who had come in for Nowitzki, had a pass stolen, and Roy hit another trey with 10.4 showing.

Boom! 100-97. And the Mavericks were in trouble.

After a timeout and a Nowitzki missed free throw, Terry hit a pair from the stripe that essentially sealed it at 102-97. Even then, Terry fouled Fernandez on a 3-point attempt with four ticks left.

It was way more drama than anybody expected in a game the Mavericks led comfortably most of the way.

"Coach let the guys know they weren't prepared coming into the game,'' said Howard, who led Dallas with 23 points. "You can't blame him [for taking out the starters]. But he got on the guys who got in the game. I guarantee you it won't happen again.''

Kidd moving on up: With his third assist - and it came barely four minutes into the game - Kidd passed Oscar Robertson for No. 4 on the NBA's all-time assists list.

Robertson finished his career with 9,887 helpers. Kidd, who had 10 assists against the Blazers, has 9,895. At his current pace of 8.3 per game, he'll also pass Magic Johnson (10,141) for third on the all-time list later this season.

Mavericks 104, Trail Blazers 99

Trail Blazers M FG

M-A 3-pt

M-A FT

M-A Tot.

Pts. Reb.

O-T Ast. F Stl TO Blk Sea.

Avg. High

Game

Batum 12:39 0-1 0-1 2-2 2 0-1 2 1 0 0 0 4.9 17

Aldridge 38:42 8-16 0-0 5-5 21 1-5 1 2 3 0 1 17.7 27

Oden 21:00 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 1-4 1 2 0 1 0 8.7 24

Rodriguez 13:57 2-5 1-2 0-0 5 0-0 1 2 1 1 0 4.4 14

Roy 39:57 10-20 4-5 2-2 26 0-7 2 1 0 5 0 22.2 52

Bayless 34:03 6-9 0-0 2-2 14 1-4 4 5 0 4 0 5.8 23

Outlaw 33:07 5-10 1-2 2-3 13 0-4 4 3 1 0 0 11.8 33

Przybilla 21:53 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2-6 0 3 1 2 3 5.2 14

Fernandez 24:42 3-8 2-3 4-5 12 2-3 1 2 0 1 0 10.8 25

Totals 240:00 37-77 8-13 17-19 99 7-34 16 21 6 14 4 98.7 124

Mavericks M FG

M-A 3-pt

M-A FT

M-A Tot.

Pts. Reb.

O-T Ast. F Stl TO Blk Sea.

Avg. High

Game

Howard 34:24 11-17 1-3 0-0 23 1-4 2 5 0 0 0 17.9 31

Nowitzki 38:00 5-13 1-2 5-6 16 0-11 3 3 0 4 0 25.6 46

Dampier 23:31 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 1 1 1 2 5.4 16

Kidd 34:18 3-5 1-3 0-0 7 2-7 10 1 1 2 2 8.9 24

Wright 30:53 4-8 1-3 2-2 11 0-0 4 4 1 0 0 6.0 24

Bass 34:03 9-11 0-0 1-1 19 2-4 1 4 2 2 2 8.5 19

Terry 30:46 7-15 1-3 5-5 20 0-2 5 3 1 1 1 20.3 33

Barea 13:46 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 0-3 2 0 1 1 0 6.6 22

Singleton 0:20 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 3.6 14

Totals 240:01 43-78 5-14 13-14 104 5-33 28 21 7 12 7 100.6 126

1 2 3 4 OT F 2FG% 3FG% TFG% FT%

PORTLAND 29 16 27 27 - 99 .453 .615 .481 .895

DALLAS 27 30 25 22 - 104 .594 .357 .551 .929

Halftime: Dallas 57-45. Third Quarter: Dallas 82-72. Opponents' largest lead: 3 points. Mavericks' largest lead: 16 points. Lead changes: 12. Team Rebounds: Portland 7, Dallas 4. Team Turnovers: Portland 14, Dallas 14. Attendance: 19,767 (cap. 19,200). Time: 2:18. Technical Fouls: Portland, Roy, :44.3 first. Flagrant Fouls: none. Officials: Bob Delaney, Jim Clark, Bennie Adams.